Sun Tzu for Women: The Art of War for Winning in Business
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About this ebook
Whether it's relying on networking skills to win allies or maneuvering to gain a decisive advantage, the author shows through dozens of case studies from prominent women in business how to overcome the odds, defeat opponents, and forge successful careers.
The tenets of Sun Tzu lend themselves to women's natural strengths in diplomacy and relationship-building. With this interpretation, you'll learn to leverage these valuable assets to trump your male colleagues every time.
Becky Sheetz-Runkle
Becky es autora, conferencista, maestra de artes marciales y estratega en mercadeo. Es una oradora comprometida con las empresas y grupos empresariales de mujeres. Habla sobre la estrategia de Sun Tzu con grupos empresariales de hombres y mujeres. Su libro, Sun Tzu para mujeres: el arte de la guerra para ganar en los negocios, ha sido llamado de «lectura obligatoria» por Today’s Chicago Woman, recomendado por la revista Baseline a sus lectores de nivel C, mencionada en The Economist, y es un libro destacado y seleccionado por los lectores en la revista Today’s Financial Women. Posee veinte años de experiencia en comunicaciones y estrategias de mercadotecnia. Es una autoridad reconocida en temas críticos para las mujeres en los negocios, fue columnista del Washington Business Journal y con frecuencia fue publicada y entrevistada por impresos nacionales, web, radio y medios televisivos.
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Sun Tzu for Women - Becky Sheetz-Runkle
SUN TZU
for
WOMEN
THE ART OF WAR
FOR WINNING
IN BUSINESS
BECKY SHEETZ-RUNKLE
Copyright © 2011 by Becky Sheetz-Runkle
All rights reserved.
This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any
form without permission from the publisher; exceptions are
made for brief excerpts used in published reviews.
Published by Adams Business,
an imprint of Adams Media, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
57 Littlefield Street, Avon, MA 02322. U.S.A.
www.adamsmedia.com
ISBN 10: 1-59869-907-5
ISBN 13: 978-1-59869-907-4
eISBN 10: 1-4405-1178-0
eISBN 13: 978-1-4405-1178-3
Printed in the United States of America.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sheetz-Runkle, Becky.
Sun Tzu for women / Becky Sheetz-Runkle.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN-13: 978-1-59869-907-4 ISBN-10: 1-59869-907-5
ISBN-13: 978-1-4405-1178-3 (ebook) ISBN-10: 1-4405-1178-0 (ebook)
1. Businesswomen. 2. Success in business. 3. Self-confidence. I. Title.
HD6053.S415 2011
650.1082 — dc22 2010041350
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional advice. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.
— From a Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by a Committee of the
American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations
This book is available at quantity discounts for bulk purchases.
For information, please call 1-800-289-0963.
To Miriam —
My generous and loving mother.
She’s survived cancer, difficult marriages, and a stubborn daughter.
And my teacher, Soke Randy Hutchins —
He’s modeled how to be a martial artist, and a teacher, but most of all,
a wonderful and selfless human being.
Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction to the Battlefield
About The Art of War
About Sun Tzu for Women
Why You Need Sun Tzu for Women
Chapter 2: Indomitable Spirit
Beginning by Winning
Big-Time Risks, Big-Time Rewards
Passion Fuels the Spirit
Ten Times Down, Eleven Times Up
Adapt to Getting Choked
When Patience Isn’t a Virtue
The Unbreakable Human Spirit of Harriet Tubman
Chapter 3: The Quest for Excellence
Be Twice as Good
Identify Weaknesses — and Move On!
The Perfection Paradox
Banish Victim Mindsets
Zanshin — Finish as Well as You Start
Inexhaustible Excellence
Carly Fiorina: A Career Defined by Excellence
Chapter 4: Technique-Your Advantage
Science According to Sun Tzu
Size Doesn’t (Always) Matter
Know Your Strengths
Failure Is a Fixed Point in Time
Flow Like Water
Drew Gilpin Faust Restores Consensus Building at Harvard
Chapter 5: Self-Confidence
Confidence Consequences
Burn the Boat
Gain Respect from the Inside Out (No Fairy Dust Needed)
Leave Your Comfort Zone
Condoleezza Rice: Out of Struggle, Resilience
Chapter 6: Focus
Focus to Get What You Want
Landmark Negotiation Study
Four Ways of Focus
Get Out of the Sword’s Way
Quiet
Focus in Perspective
Think Like an Olympian
Marsha Serlin Defied the Odds with Laser Focus
Chapter 7: Conquering Fear
The Challenge of Fear
Today Is a Good Day to Die
It’s Not Fight or Flight, It’s Tend and Befriend
Conquer Fear with Preparation
Having No Mind
Rhonda Cornum, a POW in Iraq
Chapter 8: Innovation
Sun Tzu on Innovation
Seizing Opportunities in Change
Expect Change — Especially When It’s Unexpected
Move On from Mistakes
Innovate by Pushing Boundaries
Joy Covey’s Innovation at Amazon
Chapter 9: Duty
Put Yourself First
Be Who You Are Always
Respect Rank
Be Realistic with Your People
And Don’t Force Yourself to March
Shift the Balance
Brenda C. Barnes Retreats to Balance Career and Family
Chapter 10: Authenticity
Overcome Imposter Syndrome
Don’t Lead Like He Does; Lead Like You Do
Show Authentic Strength
The Symbolic and the Real
The Big Picture
For Indra Nooyi, Being Powerful Means Being Herself
Chapter 11: Harness Deception to Shape Perception
Sun Tzu on Deception
Examples of Underestimation
Shape Perception to Your Advantage
A Mystery to the Enemy
Queen Nzinga: A Case Study in Deception
Chapter 12: Preparedness
Preparedness in Business
Anybody Can Take Out Anybody
The Shot You Don’t Expect Will Take You Out
Be Ready for the Worst-Case Scenario
Grasp the Essence
Sue Kronick, Prepared to Create Opportunity
Chapter 13: Understand Yourself
Conquer Your Weaknesses
Manipulate Circumstances to Overcome Weaknesses
Strength Will Create Enemies
Sun Tzu on Emotional Maturity
Power in the Wrong Place
Are You Getting Better or Getting Beat Up?
Win Your Way
For Geraldine Laybourne, Trusting Your Instincts Means Knowing Yourself
Chapter 14: Understanding and Leveraging Others
Know Your Enemy
The Orchestra Conductor
The Way to Consensus
Sun Tzu on Alliances
Understanding Others Makes Business Sense for Marion Luna Brem
Chapter 15: Practice the Basics
Meditations on Fundamental Principles
Know the Enemy’s Plan
Seeking the Blossoms, Miss the Fruit
The Path to Failure
Get Past Complexity to Understand Simplicity
Wanting Isn’t Enough — Discipline Is Mandatory
Discipline and the Basics
Poor Conditioning
The Basics Didn’t Come Easily for Wilma Rudolph
Chapter 16: Battlefield Wisdom
Less Is More: Pick Your Battles
Leave the Ego for the Enemy
Different Enemies, Different Strategies
Everything Is Critical
Your Strengths + Good Work = Not Enough
When the Time Is Right, Trust Yourself
Elizabeth I: Oh Lord! The Queen Is a Woman!
Chapter 17: Continuous Learning
Empty Your Cup
Sharpen the Blade
What Is Learned Is More Important than What Is Taught
Willingness to Learn from Inferiors
Meg Whitman Practices Learning at Every Opportunity
Going Forward
Bibliography
Chapter 1
Introduction to the Battlefield
About The Art of War
Amasterpiece of military strategy, The Art of War was written by the Chinese philosopher-general Sun Tzu around 500 b.c. It contains thirteen short chapters totaling only 7,000 words, but its impact has been much larger than its size. Its teachings have shaped Eastern military and business thinking. In the West, the book’s popularity continues to grow as managers and leaders seek to apply its principles to their business challenges.
About Sun Tzu
Very little is known about Sun Tzu. He was a great military strategist who committed a distinguished lifetime’s worth of knowledge to bamboo strips. Or he never really existed at all. The book may have been written by a collection of men. In an embodiment of his battlefield strategy, Sun Tzu is a mystery.
Until clear evidence presents itself, believe the origin you wish. The battles were settled a long time ago. The man or men who wrote the book have long since turned to dust. The lessons are what remain.
About the Translation
The English translation of The Art of War used in Sun Tzu for Women is the same one used in Sun Tzu: The Art of War for Managers: 50 Strategic Rules Updated for Today’s Business, by Gerald A. Michaelson and Steven Michaelson (Adams Media). Alternate translations are included and noted when they offer useful interpretations of the material.
About Sun Tzu for Women
Sun Tzu for Women shows how sixteen core attributes from The Art of War can help women today achieve professional success.
This book doesn’t extract ancient Eastern concepts and attempt to force-fit them into a modern Western context. Instead, real-life lessons from women who have survived and thrived in business illustrate Sun Tzu’s timeless lessons.
Sun Tzu for Women captures the spirit of The Art of War and makes it eminently accessible, relevant, and applicable to women who live and work all over the world.
Why You Need Sun Tzu for Women
Men are taught to apologize for their weaknesses, women for their strengths.
—LOIS WYSE
Around the world, executives and managers embrace The Art of War. Male executives and managers, that is. Sun Tzu’s treatise on military strategy is rarely lauded as recommended reading for women. Maybe the harsh battlefield realities of a brilliant Chinese military strategist who lived five hundred years before Christ seem a long way from the cubicles, executive suites, and boardrooms of twenty-first-century female leaders. But following Sun Tzu’s strategies can help women get the absolute best out of their careers and themselves.
Sun Tzu for Women isn’t a black-and-white discussion of how military campaigns translate into customer acquisition or how Sun Tzu would create a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis if he were in our boardrooms today. It’s about how women can first understand, and then effectively internalize, Sun Tzu’s strategies to advance their careers and improve their businesses. The pace of our lives, our worlds, and our workdays is often so frenetic that true understanding is elusive.
The Guide to Your Journey
If you believe victory is your only option, Sun Tzu for Women is for you. It will help you define and develop the mentality and inner tenacity that you need to reach the pinnacle of your potential, no matter where you are in your career now. Sun Tzu for Women is about the journey from who you are to who you can become.
It reconciles ancient truths with modern realities. It shares memorable battlefield, boardroom, and life experiences of powerful women from antiquity to modernity, and includes examples from the author’s two decades of arduous martial arts training.
The scenarios Sun Tzu describes may be foreign to many readers. But the applications are familiar. Timeless truths, both simple and complex, never go out of style.
For Sun Tzu, victory begins well before the battle is fought. The woman who hasn’t cultivated the spirit of self-belief will be unable to carry out any of the tactics. Sun Tzu for Women will change how you see yourself, your circumstances, and your business.
Your Competitive Advantage
Women need to study The Art of War because their male counterparts do. For years, businessmen have used its strategies to become more effective leaders and implementers. Women who make the mistake of seeing this battlefield classic as too military or too masculine will lose out on the benefits their colleagues are realizing.
Sharing Common Pitfalls
Collectively, women in business experience many of the same obstacles. Maybe you:
• Seek to avoid conflict
• Are unsure of which battles to fight and when to fight them
• Desire to stay in your comfort zone and keep the peace
• Experience confusion about being true to yourself or adopting traits characteristic of male leadership models
• Don’t ask for what you want
• Allow timidity to prevent you from achieving big
• Fear the way boldness will be perceived by others
• Are prone to distraction from outside the office
Sun Tzu for Women explores what Sun Tzu himself says about such challenges. You’ll learn how Carly Fiorina, Geraldine Laybourne, Meg Whitman, Drew Gilpin Faust, Condoleezza Rice, and many women like them overcame external obstacles to succeed.
Their stories, plus the latest research, will show you how to break through barriers — including those within yourself — to win battles, create opportunities, and expand your horizons.
Women Share Similar Success Attributes
In addition to facing similar obstacles, women also share similar attributes that lead to success, such as:
• Intuition
• Sensitivity
• Collaboration
• Passion
• Independence
• Team building
The challenge, however, is fully utilizing these strengths. Sun Tzu for Women will show you how.
Chapter 2
Indomitable Spirit
You must do the thing you think you cannot do.
— ELEANOR ROOSEVELT
THE BATTLE: Insecurity will keep you from overcoming challenges. If you expect yourself to fall short, you’ll be destined for failure. Character isn’t about what happens to you, but how you respond to it.
THE CHAMPION: If you’re a winner, you have a spirit of victory in each battle. You know that with each challenge, you grow smarter, stronger, more resilient, and more capable of being who you’re destined to be.
Indomitable spirit — the courage within that keeps you from defeat — is the soul of Sun Tzu’s battlefield strategy. It must also be at the core of your business strategy. It makes or breaks armies and will do the same for you on a personal level. Victory is a state of mind forged in your experiences.
Indomitable isn’t a word used very often in our culture. But it’s a familiar concept if you strive for excellence. It’s refusing to be conquered or overcome. You’ll often have to find unconventional ways to defeat a larger, stronger, better-funded, or more-established enemy. No matter what, with an indomitable sprit, you resolve to win. There are no other options.
People who exhibit this kind of courage have had their spirits forged in adversity. Through their triumphs, they’ve developed the mindset that victory, ultimately, will always be theirs. But success has to be defined on your terms, not on anyone else’s. Sometimes winning is simply about survival and going on to fight another day.
Sun Tzu says this about how to battle when the odds are against you: If less in number, be capable of defending yourself. And if in all respects unfavorable, be capable of eluding him. Hence, a weak force will eventually fall captive to a strong one if it simply holds ground and conducts a desperate defense.
There’s a difference between being able to defend yourself, your team, or your organization, and desperately trying to survive. The first is a spirit of refusing to be overcome. The second is a spirit of chaos and confusion that leads to destruction.
Beginning by Winning
For Sun Tzu, victory is to be achieved before the battle is initiated. This is the embodiment of an unconquerable spirit: A wise commander always ensures that his forces are put in an invincible position, and at the same time will be sure to miss no opportunity to defeat the enemy. It follows that a triumphant army will not fight with the enemy until the victory is assured, while an army destined to defeat will always fight with the opponent first, in the hope that it may win by sheer good luck.
This scenario illustrates the concept of beginning by winning:
Two athletes have trained hard for a difficult race. They’re both in excellent shape. Both women suffered various injuries during their years of running — shin splits, knee problems, and pulled hamstrings. They each have personal lives and jobs that demand their attention and cause them daily stress.
Generally speaking, the same things have happened to them. The difference is in how each responds. Throughout the first woman’s training, she’s been ready to win. She arrives on race day with single-purpose focus. She’s not thinking about the injuries that have plagued her. She has one thing on her mind — winning.
The second woman has worked just as hard. Long hours. Late nights at the gym. Early mornings on the road. She’s thinking about winning too. But that’s not all she’s thinking about. She’s thinking about what will happen if she doesn’t win. After all, if she falls short, it will probably be because of her injuries. Or because it’s hard to focus after that awful fight she had with her husband last night. And then there’s the stress of her son’s performance in school. Will he be able to get into a good college? Yes, she’s in great shape and is well-prepared. But she believes that if she doesn’t win, there’s a good reason why. She has given herself permission to fail. It won’t be her fault if she’s not up to par. It’ll be her hamstring, or her husband, or her son.
Who do you think will have the better race?
Big-Time Risks, Big-Time Rewards
High achievers take serious risks and overcome major obstacles to realize awesome returns. While Sun Tzu calls for always being in a stronger position, he acknowledges that there will be battles where the odds against you are great. Champions of the business battlefield understand this kind of adversity. They know what it’s like to go up against a difficult, seemingly insurmountable opponent. And they know what it means to defeat that opponent, and, in so doing, conquer themselves.
While women